Books are very good. If you search through the back posts of this forum, you'll find many suggested.

I would also suggest looking for local herbalists and naturopaths that teach classes. Also look for horticulture classes on growing herbs, identifying wild plants, and so on since they have many applicable skills.

There are many websites to get info from. Plants For a Future is a great reference to look up plants in but there are many others depending upon what types of information you seek.

The Herbs forum here on GardenWeb focuses on growing herbs of all sorts - culinary herbs are often asked about but any type of herb including medicinal ones can be discussed. There is some light discussion of usage there but that is not the forum's main focus. It is an active forum that is generally quite helpful and positive in tone.

FataMorgana

There are serious herb groups on facebook that are quite good are re the quality of information and level of civility and respect shown among members ... most will require membership to post. No ads or disrespectful rhetoric allowed.

Public forums such as this one always have one or two folks that make it unpleasant for everyone else, unfortunately. This forum is no exception.

Ditto all of Fatamorgana's suggestions, good ones. I would also recommended herbal blogs, there are some fantastic ones to be found on the web. A friend compiled a list of some herbal blogs on her site, here's the link

http://methowvalleyherbs.blogspot.com/p/herbal-blogroll.html

Have fun with it,

Kali

While there are many sources for historical uses and mystical aspects of herbalism, books and articles by Stephen Foster, Varro Tyler and Edzard Ernst are valuable for info on evidence-based use of herbs for medicinal purposes.

Pub Med offers a huge free searchable database of scientific journal articles and reviews of herbs, for up to date information on the latest in the field of phytomedicine.

Some university and medical center websites like that of Sloan-Kettering have reliable information about herbal efficacy and herb-drug interactions.

Public forums are always going to include posters who cannot bear disagreement, take it personally and engage in attacks on others. Even websites that have a policy of limiting discussion to a pro-alt med viewpoint feature a lot of rancor. I know of no public herbalism forums that are adequately moderated and maintain respect for differing views. E-mail lists and highly restricted private groups are useful to those for whom experiencing various points of view is detrimental.

Don't expect to join a serious herb group on fb and find no differences of opinion amongst members, of course there will be! We're all individuals and have our own ideas and ways of understanding things....the discussion gets lively at times but never rude or condescending...group moderators weed out those folks pretty quickly. There are a couple of those here, we all know who they are, and its easy to get discouraged and just leave when that happens...hope you can overlook them and stick around long enough to share! The vast majority here are nice people with a desire to share and learn from each other.

Kali

Thank you for all the information.I've looked at some and have the others on my list. I am primarily interested in learning about Herbs.

I want to know some of the mythology (because it is fun)Some of the medicinal uses (because it is interesting). I don't take any medications, because I don't need them. So, I may try herbs for minor problems, but I have no fear of going to a Dr. (Except that the last two Dr.'S I had droped me because I didn't visit them often enough!)

Also I am thinking about a meditation garden and would like to use herbs as a border.

I just want to know more about herbs. I don't need the drama of differing openions -- I don't have one. I just want information.

Thank you for your directions.

To learn more about herb gardening check out the garden forum section of this site...something there for everyone. I'm especially fond of the native plants forum.

"I just want to know more about herbs. I don't need the drama of differing openions -- I don't have one. I just want information."

So, for example if someone tells you to drink comfrey tea to heal wounds and fractures, and another poster mentions that many herbalists recommend against oral intake of comfrey due to potential severe liver toxicity and carcinogenic risk, that would constitute unnecessary drama and you'd rather not hear it? Or if a poster suggested taking an herb to treat cancer and another noted that there was no clinical evidence the herb was effective against cancer and it had side effects besides, you'd be annoyed at the second poster for pointing that out?*

Again, there are websites where one doesn't have to be concerned with differing opinions (and facts), but without access to this information one puts one's health at risk.

*both of these scenarios have come up on prior occasions in this forum.